Room to grow the grid

According to SMU School of Economics Associate Professor Hsu Wen-Tai, the choice between grids and cul-de-sac road networks has implications for traffic flow. He surmised the pros and cons of both types of road network designs and whether cities should adopt either design to best serve transportation needs. In his paper presented at the 9th Singapore Economic Policy Forum in October 2016, he compared the road networks between Singapore and Taipei, acknowledging the grid area in Taipei to be more than six times that of Singapore. He found that Singaporean drivers tend to drive a longer distance between two points on average, suggesting that the roads in Singapore are more circuitous. He also noted that the upcoming Greater Southern Waterfront is an excellent opportunity to increase the grid size in Singapore.